The average American consumes 22 teaspoons of sugar every day.
The world is hooked on sugar. Ray Kurzweil calls it the “White Satan.” And he might be onto something. The futurist guru has found overwhelming evidence that consuming refined sugar is linked to cardiovascular disease, obesity, type-2 diabetes and even cancer. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), women should consume no more than 6 teaspoons of sugar per day and men no more than 9. At 22 teaspoons of sugar consumed by the average American each day, it’s no wonder that our excessive habit is so costly. Scientific innovation is pushing human longevity past the traditional limits. Yet despite this upward trend, we’re still not much smarter about what we put in our bodies. And, according to recent studies, food manufacturers and the U.S. government aren’t doing much to curb our voracious appetite for sugar. We found a video featuring a talk by University of California professor Robert Lustig that exposes the bitter truth about sugar. Make sure you check it out below.
Here at the Hub we think the world of technology. It’s thought that by the year 2030 there will be about one million people living in the triple digits. If we lose a tooth because we ate too much sugar, we will one day replace it with our stem cells, but one simple truth remains: state-of-the-art medicine and brand-name prescriptions can’t—at least not yet—compare to a good dose of common sense. As the singularity’s fiercest advocate, Kurzweil stands by the power of human reasoning, but he also might say that in the battle against sugar, willpower isn’t to blame. The fight can seem futile at best for the more than 17 million Americans currently diagnosed with diabetes. And it seems as though the U.S. government and product manufacturers aren’t doing their share to balance a system that caters hand and foot to sugar-holics.
For one, many foods that aren’t considered desserts actually contain more sugar than their seemingly sweeter counterparts. Some foods considered more natural, like salads, might be higher in sugar if served with a sweet dressing. There isn’t much to alert consumers to this misnomer. In fact, the FDA has yet to issue regulations to control claims of what is and isn’t “natural.” Sugar is everywhere. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists the common aliases of sugar found in most food products, and links to resources that explain how to navigate those misleading product labels we frequently forget to read. But what good is a nutritional label if it lists dubious information? The World Health Organization puts the safe amount of sugar in a healthy diet at no more than 10 percent, whereas the sugar industry in the United States has claimed that 25 percent of our diet can safely consist of sugar—a disagreement with an obvious agenda.
Sugar is subtle. Manufacturers bombard us with half-truths and misleading information on boxes and product labels are skewed to make ingredients seem more benign. It’s been suggested, for instance, that nutritional information be made less confusing by replacing “per serving” quantities with what’s present in the entire container for some products. This popular breakfast cereal is described as “lightly sweetened” on the box, yet sugar is the second ingredient listed (ingredients are generally listed in order of prominence). Websites are no different. Coca-Cola advocates for an “active, healthy lifestyle” on its nutritional information page. Here’s a novel idea: how about skipping soda altogether? Robert H. Lustig, MD, UCSF Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology would agree. In a recent video presented by the UCSF’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Lustig exposes a few dietary myths, going so far as to call high-fructose corn syrup “poison.” It’s a long video, so if you don’t have time to watch it through (which you should), there are a few highlights not to miss: at 15:50 Lustig links Type II diabetes to sugar sweetened soft drinks; find out how juice can cause obesity at 27:21; and at 34:50 who would have thought that doughnuts could unite the world? Check out the video below.
Sugar is addictive. Sugar—along with chocolate, cheese and meat—releases an opiate-like substance that activates the brain’s reward system. So kicking the habit isn’t quite as easy as taking everything in moderation. But we as consumers have more power than we think when it comes to dictating food industry trends, which could advocate for a healthier population in the long run.
Health and longevity is on everyone’s mind. But what good is immortality if we’re riddled with disease and calamity—all because we can’t exercise a little discipline? What good is modern medicine when we demand no less than a miracle? Are we expecting technology to take the place of a healthy lifestyle? If we really want to live longer, we need to take responsibility for our bodies and stop expecting technology and medicine to clean up the mess when we can’t say ‘enough is enough.’
[image credit: Yes-Zim.com]
[video credit: University of California Television]
[source: FDA, CDC, Life Extension Magazine, Coca-Cola, Purdue University, CSPI]
Tags: aha, carbohydrate, CDC, diet, FDA, health, lifestyle, product label, ray kurzweil, robert lustig, sugar, Technology, UCSF, white satan
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I’ve done my best to get off cane sugar. I use honey in my loose leaf tea (yes I know it has its own problems), but it can be real tough when sugar features prominently in EVERY easy meal in the frozen food section or fast food chain. How much sugar is in ketchup? Does anyone ever look? How much sugar is in your bread? My dad can’t stand most of the lasagna on the market because of how sweet it is, and I agree. We have so many gastronomic problems in our society that it’s difficult to know where to start. Sugar is definitely a good place, and my snack of choice these days is dried mango, which I get from a local purveyor that uses no sugar, and it’s bomb.
Even “natural” foods, such as fruits, are much higher in sugar today than they would have been throughout most of human history. From an evolutionary standpoint, sugar would have made up very, very little of our diets and would have been seasonal (fruits) or dangerous to obtain and very limited (honey.) Gary Taubes’ “Good Calories, Bad Calories” was a major eye-opener and really made me conscious of how much sugar we actually consume – as well as how it negatively impacts health.
Do not confuse regular sugar and sugars from fruits. That is two different things, and you never going to get fat from fruits as from pastries and stuff like that
The “sugar” problem is yet another example of the most important problem that pervades the societies of today. It is about the greed as the most common “business practice” nowadays. Somewhere down the road we traded the long honored tradition of always picking the hard way to reap the most benefits for the short term gratification. Which creates a society full of “parasites”, instead a society of builders our forfathers had so diligently built. When one combines greed with the addictivness of sugar, the business gets very dishonest. So the name of the game is “pick the latest weak spot of our consumers and bleed them dry”. In order to really benefit from all the new knowledge and advancements being made we also need firm and hones business practices to support them, empower the customers with tools to keep the businesses in check.
Very informative, if a little scary. The pervasiveness of HFCS and sucrose is worrying, mostly because it isn’t openly identified on food packaging. And the incipient creep into children’s drinks and all fast foods is a crime. Let’s get the science out there. Everyone is eager to try the newest fad diet, how about one that actually works?
I don’t see how it can be a surprise to anyone that T2 diabetes is linked to sugar. This is common knowledge, people.
Besides, I’d appreciate if the writers for the ‘hub stopped writing as if USA was the only country in the world. Or as if they are the only readers. In Norway, the scene is shifted, even though we also have certain problems with overconsumption of sugar.
Crow,
You make a good point. We will try not to be so US centric with our writing in the future.
likes this
Here’s an idea. Create a bacteria that reacts to large amounts of fructose by releasing a hormone that stimulates insulin creation. The bacteria will be unable to reproduce and will not eat any of the fructose. The bacteria will self destruct once it runs out of resources, keeping it from evolving into something nasty, and it will help us curb our cravings by telling our brain we’re full.
Here’s an idea. Create a bacteria that reacts with chemicals found in healthy foods to release an opiate-like substance and another to block the opiate release of sugar. And of course, taste bud alterations, etc. Why find a way to make us survive corn syrup when we can make ourselves enjoy corn?
Boy, this Lustig fellow sounds just like Glenn Beck.
As much as I like the critical reading of nutrition labels…
I’m a bit confused here – you attack the “lightly sweetened” label on the grounds of the position of sugar in the ingredients (of which there *are* only four, besides vitamins/minerals), but don’t go for the HFCS, which is third, and the actual sugar content (regardless of the sources) isn’t even mentioned?
Greedy corporations like Kenwood Vineyards, Veuve Clicquot, Metropolis Wine Merchants, Siena Imports, etc. should be sued & shut down for knowingly selling a sugar based product that is proven addictive & has been a destroyer of many lives.
How many teenaged alcoholics should we suffer before we awake to the fact that we are being sold a bill of goods by these greedy merchants of poison?
Think of our social responsibility to protect the lives & health of our fellow citizens. Think of all the money we waist on medical treatment for people, like David Crosby, with liver decease caused by consuming the toxins of wine & whiskey.
Are you arguing sugars should be as strongly regulated as alcohol? I’m all for that…
indeed, it should be. I think sweets of any sort should be forbidden to anyone under the age of 21. In fact, all pleasure should be watched very closely because it only leads to bodily decadence & the collapse of society. Damn Dr. Graham’s Honey Biscuits! Made to assuage unhealthy carnal urges in children but now we have a nation full of far worse.
Sugar is only half the problem. The byproduct of flour enriching/bleaching processes, known as Alloxan, is in equally as many products as sugar is, if not more. Alloxan destroys beta cells in the pancreas and also leads to Diabetes.
“Because it selectively kills the insulin-producing beta-cells found in the pancreas, alloxan is used to induce diabetes in laboratory animals. This occurs most likely because of selective uptake of the compound due to its structural similarity to glucose as well as the beta-cell’s highly efficient uptake mechanism (GLUT2).
However, alloxan is not toxic to the human beta-cell, even in very high doses, probably due to differing glucose uptake mechanisms in humans and rodents.[6][7]Alloxan is, however, toxic to the liver and the kidneys in high doses.[citation needed]”
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alloxan
this is really an eye opener for me…thanks
Gosh, you’re a retard. Look at the box closely. Sugar is #2. High fructose corn syrup is #3. Companies get away with not making sugar ingredient #1 by splitting it among several ingredients (sugar+cane juice+high fructose corn syrup+honey+others). Always look at sugar by weight.
In this case, it looks above average, actually. 12g out of 59g. I wouldn’t want to eat it (1/4 sugar), but many cereals are half sugar.
i think this site is so stupid sugar is a part of our life if you get addicted to it then thats your own problem dont know how you people can blame sugar because your all fat thats your own fault and the comment i read sayin all sweets should be forbidden to anyone under 21 is ridiculous its not the children’s fault its the parents for feeding it to them everyone get a life!!!!!!
I do not believe sugar will be a problem in the longer run, I think that like with cooked food we will cross another boundary that will bring a major boost to our brains. If you have paid attention to anthropological findings of recent years you would have know that cooking food has made us what we are today, more than anything else in our environment. This change of diet brought us excessive energy and changed our whole being in a relative narrow time frame. Of course people will die from excessive sugar usage, but then they die from many other causes too. A group of people will not die from this and will take us humankind to another revolutionary genetic change and will use this excessive energy reserve to power even greater brain usage, call it singularity if you want…
I’m incensed to learn that our FDA, Department of Agriculture and food industry are responsible for our obesity problem. Somebody needs to lead a crusade to fix this. Where do I sign up? Newsweek should interview Dr. Lustig. WHAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW
your obesity problem is no body’s fault but your own that’s the problem with people like you its never your fault is it just remember no body forces it down ya neck do they n i ain’t American!
do you know what sarcasm means?
WHAT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW — AND DON’T.
I’ve been trying to avoid sugar for about 6 months after lossing 30lbs in 2 months, on a sugar free diet. The stuff is in virtually everything – and needlessly too. Why does shredded wheat need sugar … I’ve only found 1 brand that is sugar free – and only 3 or 4 cereals in total. It is also really hard to find packaged foods without sugar. Even most pre-seasoned meats have added sugar! I’ve ended up turning to natural foods and having to prepare most foods from scratch – which, unfortunately, does not always prove to be easy, or convenient.
I’m trying to avoid sugar, but sweetened food is a big problem. Sugar is in everything! I don’t know why it is the case, but it surely limits people’s choice of choosing healthy food. I have heard that “sugar-free” (light) food and drinks are actually scams and are not good. If they don’t contain sugar, than they contain other unhealthy chemicals. I don’t know if this is really true, since I never bothered really to investigate, but I have heard that from several people so I avoid light drinks. I try to switch sweets with fruits, but as Eric said in the second comment, they are more sweet than before. I just hope that is the real natural sugar, not artificial (well, it’s in fruits, isn’t it?).
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Chocolade goodness, niam niam love it
If the assumption is that all problems can be solved via technology, why such old fashioned “pre-singularity” thinking as though we don’t already know about sugar – and alcohol – and many other things that humans are inclined to get hooked on. If humans are going to benefit from the singularity , or even the present “really smart thinker years” like we are in right now – I hope it’s going to be more than just common sense advice from the last 200 years such as eat your vegetables and abstain from the devil’s vices!
Wow…. that’s really exponentially new and improved thinking! I think I prefer to be raptured by God and get an instant Glorified body with an eternal guarantee instead of this old Wizard of Oz snake oil line……